1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the harvesting of fruit from trees and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for harvesting fruit from trees by directing an updraft of air through the trees, thereby shaking the fruit from the branches and slowing the falling velocity of the fruit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A substantial factor in the high cost of fruit is the expense of harvesting the fruit from the tree. In most cases, the fruit is harvested from the tree by hand. Since a worker is able to harvest relatively few trees each day, the fruit harvested in this manner is relatively expensive. Furthermore, the fruit must be picked when it is ripe, and the fruit trees in a given area of the country usually ripen at about the same time. Thus, the demand for fruit pickers drastically increases during harvesttime.
Many attempts have been made to mechanize the harvesting of fruit in order to increase the productivity of the workers. These mechanized harvesters generally fall into a number of distinct categories. The first category includes devices for lifting the worker into the tree to make the fruit more accessible and to allow the worker to pick more fruit in a given period of time. Another type of mechanized fruit harvester is the tree shaker. These devices generally grasp the trunk of the tree near its base and shake or vibrate the tree, thereby shaking the fruit from the branches. Another type of device utilizes a vacuum hose to collect the fruit by sequentially placing the end of the hose adjacent each individual item of fruit. Another category directs a high-speed stream of air into the tree to blow the fruit from the branches. Although these devices are relatively effective in removing the fruit from the tree, most of them do not prevent the fruit from being damaged upon falling. Further, after being shaken from the tree, the fruit will be scattered about a wide area, requiring a great deal of labor to collect the fruit in one location. Fruit harvesters which are able to overcome these problems do not remove the fruit from the tree at substantially the same time.